Dielectric properties of Li2O-3B2O3 glasses

Rahul Vaish and K. B. R. Varma*

Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560 012,

India.

*Corresponding Author; E-Mail: kbrvarma@mrc.iisc.ernet.in;

FAX: 91-80-23600683; Tel. No: 91-80-22932914

1

Abstract:

The frequency and temperature dependence of the dielectric constant and the electrical

conductivity of the transparent glasses in the composition Li2O-3B2O3 (LBO) were

investigated in the 100 Hz- 10 MHz frequency range. The dielectric constant and the loss

in the low frequency regime were electrode material dependent. Dielectric and electrical

relaxations were respectively analyzed using the Cole-Cole and electric modulus

formalisms. The dielectric relaxation mechanism was discussed in the framework of

electrode and charge carrier (hopping of the ions) related polarization using generalized

Cole-Cole expression. The frequency dependent electrical conductivity was rationalized

using Jonscher’s power law. The activation energy associated with the dc conductivity

was 0.80 ± 0.02 eV, which was ascribed to the motion of Li+ ions in the glass matrix. The

activation energy associated with dielectric relaxation was almost equal to that of the dc

conductivity, indicating that the same species took part in both the processes.

Temperature dependent behavior of the frequency exponent (n) suggested that the

correlated barrier hopping model was the most apposite to rationalize the electrical

transport phenomenon in Li2O-3B2O3 glasses. These glasses on heating at 933 K/10h

resulted in the known non-linear optical phase LiB3O5.

2

1. Introduction:

Noncentrosymmetric borate-based compounds have been becoming increasingly

important, because of their symmetry dependent properties such as piezoelectric,

pyroelectric, ferroelectric and non-linear optical. Various borate-based single crystals,

including BaB2O4 [1], BiB3O6 [2], SrB4O7 [3], CsLiB6O10 [4], LiNaB4O7 [5] have been

investigated and reported to be promising from their physical properties view point.

These compounds have attained importance particularly for their use in non-linear optical

devices.

Amongst various borate-based materials, LiB3O5 single crystals have been

reported to be promising from their non-linear optical, pyroelectric and piezoelectric

properties viewpoint [6-8]. It has high non-linear optic coefficient, large optical damage

threshold, wide transmission window, low cost associated with fairly good chemical and

mechanical stability. LiB3O5 belongs to the orthorhombic crystal class associated with

Pna21 space group. Because of the combination of the promising physical properties

indicated above, LiB3O5 as a functional material in the Li2O-B2O3 binary system has

attracted the attention of several researchers around the globe. The same binary system

also yields Li2B4O7 compound which is technologically important owing to its interesting

surface acoustic wave (SAW), piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties [9,10].

Though, the optical properties of LiB3O5 have been studied in detail [11, 12], the

literature on the electric properties is limited [6]. Since LiB3O5 is polar, it deserves much

attention from its electrical transport properties point of view as these properties have

direct influence on its pyroelectric and piezoelectric characteristics. Glass-ceramic route

of fabricating transparent materials at finer scale which eventually on heat treatment

3

yields the desired crystalline phase is an industrially important method. Therefore, to

begin with, glasses in the composition Li2O-3B2O3 (which on heating at appropriate

temperatures yielded crystalline LiB3O5 phase) have been investigated for their dielectric

and electrical conductivity properties over the range of temperatures and frequencies that

are normally of interest in the applications of these materials. The experimental data have

been modeled using Cole-Cole relation [13], Jonscher’s power law [14] and electric

modulus formalism. The details pertaining to these studies are reported in the following

sections.

2. Experimental:

Transparent glasses in the composition Li2O-3B2O3 (LBO) were fabricated via the

conventional melt-quenching technique. For this, Li2CO3 and H3BO3 were mixed and

melted in a platinum crucible at 1173 K for 30 min. The batch weight was 20 gm. Melts

were quenched by pouring on a steel plate and pressed with another plate to obtain 1-2

mm thick glass plates. These glasses were annealed at 673 K for 12 h. The amorphous

nature of the as-quenched samples was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD,

Philips PW1050/37) using Cu Kα radiation. The glassy characteristics were established

by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC, Model: Diamond DSC, Perkin Elmer) studies.

The capacitance and dielectric loss (D) measurements on the as-quenched

(annealed) polished glass plates of 1 and 3 mm in thickness using various electrode

materials (Ag-paint, sputtered Au and thermally evaporated Al) were done using

impedance gain phase analyzer (HP 4194 A) in the 100 Hz-10 MHz frequency range with

a signal strength of 0.5 Vrms at various temperatures (300–525 K). Thin silver leads were

4

bonded to the sample using silver epoxy. Based on these data the dielectric constants

were evaluated by taking the dimensions and electrode geometry of the sample into

account.

3. Results and Discussion:

The DSC trace that was obtained in the 600- 950 K temperature range for the as-

quenched glass plates is shown in Fig. 1. It exhibits the glass transition (endotherm, 770

K) and exotherms in the 835 -910 K temperature range associated with the crystallization.

The XRD pattern obtained for the as-quenched sample (Li2O-3B2O3 in molar ratio) that is

shown in Fig.2 (a) confirms its amorphous state. In order to ascertain the crystalline

phases that are evolving in the above temperature range, the as-quenched samples were

heated to 823 K/4 h, 873 K/6 h and 933 K/10 h. The X-ray powder diffraction pattern

obtained for the 823 K/4 h heat-treated samples is depicted in Fig. 2 (b). The Bragg peaks

that are encountered in this pattern could be indexed to Li2B4O7 (major phase) and

Li2B8O13 (minor phase) phases. The XRD pattern [Fig. 2 (c)] that was obtained for the

873 K/6 h heat-treated sample also revealed the presence of two major phases

corresponding to Li2B4O7 and Li2B8O13. In order to ascertain the thermal stability of these

phases (Li2B4O7 and Li2B8O13), the as-quenched glasses were heat-treated at 933 K/10 h

(beyond the intense exotherm in Fig. 1). The XRD pattern that was obtained at room

temperature for this sample is shown in Fig. 2 (d). It is interesting to note that all the

Bragg peaks in this pattern could be assigned to LiB3O5 phase (a=8.446(2) Ǻ, b=7.380(2)

Ǻ, and c= 5.147(2) Ǻ). The as-quenched glasses are likely to have diborate and

tetraborate structural units which favor crystallization of Li2B4O7 and Li2B8O13 at the

5

initial stages of crystallization [15]. Based on the XRD studies, the scheme of the

crystallization of Li2O-3B2O3 glasses may be illustrated as follows;

Li2O-3B2O3 ⎯⎯⎯ →⎯ hK 6/873 0.5Li2B4O7 + 0.5Li2B8O13 ⎯⎯⎯ →⎯ hK 10/933 2LiB3O5 (1)

The variation of the dielectric constant ( 'rε ) with frequency (100 Hz – 10 MHz) of

measurement for 1 mm thick LBO glass-plates (with silver paint electrodes) at different

temperatures is shown in Fig. 3. At all the temperatures under investigation, 'rε decreases

with increase in frequency. The decrease is significant, especially at low frequencies,

which may be associated with the mobile ion polarization combined with electrode

polarization. The low-frequency dispersion of 'rε gradually increases with increase in

temperature due to an increase in the electrode polarization as well as the thermal

activation associated with Li+ ions in the LBO glasses. The electrode polarization is

significant at high temperatures (423 K-523 K) and masks the bulk response of the

glasses in the low frequency regime. When the temperature rises, the dielectric dispersion

shifts towards higher frequencies.

To begin with, an attempt was made to rationalize the dielectric relaxation in LBO

glasses by using the Cole-Cole equation [13]:

( ) αωτεε

εε −∞

∞+

−+= 1

*

1 is

r (2)

where sε is the static dielectric constant, ∞ε is a high frequency value of the dielectric

constant, ω (=2πf) is the angular frequency, τ is the dielectric relaxation time and α is a

measure of distribution of relaxation times with values ranging from 0 to 1. For an ideal

Debye relaxation, α = 0 and α > 0 indicates that the relaxation has a distribution of

relaxation times. After solving Eq. 2 for the dielectric constant, one obtains

6

( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( ) ( ) αα

α

ωτπαωτπαωτεε

εε 221

1'

2sin21]2sin1[

−−

−∞

∞++

+−+= s

r (3)

The experimental data on the variation of 'rε with frequency could not be fitted perfectly

using Eq. 3 in the entire frequency range since the Cole-Cole equation predicts nearly

constant 'rε in the low frequency regime, which is not true in the present case. This is due

to the fact that the electrode/space charge polarization is dominant at low frequencies as

depicted in Fig. 3. The above observations necessitate the inclusion of the electrical

conductivity term in the Cole-Cole equation to rationalize the 'rε versus frequency

behavior of LBO glasses in the whole frequency range. After adding the term that

reflects the electrode/space charge polarization in the Eq. 3, one arrives at [16]

( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( ) ( ) s

o

sr ωε

σωτπαωτπαωτεε

εε αα

α2

221

1'

2sin21]2sin1[+

++

+−+= −−

−∞

∞ (4)

where s (0, 1) is a constant and σ2 is the conductivity, a contribution from the space

charges. Solid lines in Fig. 3 are the fitted curves (Goodness of fit (R2) >0.999) of the

experimental results (100 Hz-10 MHz) according to Eq. 4. The parameters that are

obtained from the best fit at various temperatures are presented in table I. In order to

further elucidate the dielectric relaxation in LBO glasses, it is important to estimate the

activation energy associated with the relaxation process. The activation energy involved

in the relaxation process of ions could be obtained from the temperature dependent

relaxation time (table I) as

( )kTE

o expττ = (5)

where E is the activation energy associated with the relaxation process, oτ is the pre-

exponential factor, k is the Boltzmann constant, and T is the absolute temperature. Fig. 4

7

depicts the plot of ln (τ) versus 1000/T along with linear fit (solid line) to the above

equation (Eq. 5). The value that is obtained for E is 0.77 ± 0.03eV, which is ascribed to

the motion of Li+ ions [17] in the glass matrix.

The variation of the dielectric loss (D) with the frequency at various temperatures

is shown in Fig. 5. The loss decreases with increase in frequency at different temperatures

(313 K-523 K). However, it increases with increase in temperature, which is attributed to

the increase in electrical conductivity of the glasses. A relaxation peak at 150 Hz was

encountered when the measurements were done at 523 K. In order to understand the

effect of electrode materials used on the dielectric relaxation of LBO glasses in the low

frequency regime, different electrode materials (silver paint, sputtered gold and thermally

evaporated aluminium) were used. Fig. 6 (a & b) shows the dielectric constant and the

loss behavior at 523 K for various electrode materials. Significant difference in the

dielectric constants for different electrode materials was observed at low frequencies

[Fig. 6 (a)]. However, all the plots merge in the high frequency regime (above 10 kHz).

This electrode independent behavior at high frequencies (10 kHz-10 MHz) is attributed to

the intrinsic dielectric response of the glasses. Interestingly, clear relaxation peaks were

observed in the frequency dependent dielectric loss plots [Fig. 6 (b)]. The frequency

associated with the dielectric relaxation was found to vary with the electrode materials

used suggesting that the above relaxation is ascribed to electrode polarization. All the

plots overlap in the high frequency region akin to that of the dielectric constant plots [Fig.

6 (a)]. Inorder to probe further into these results the dielectric measurements were

performed on the samples of two different thicknesses (1 mm and 3 mm) using silver

paint electrodes at 523 K (Fig. 7). The dielectric dispersion is found to be dependent on

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the thickness of the sample indicating space charge polarization at sample/electrode

interfaces contributing to the observed dielectric dispersion.

Electric modulus formalism was also invoked to rationalize the dielectric response

of the present glasses. The use of electric modulus approach helps in understanding the

bulk response of moderately conducting samples. This would facilitate to circumvent the

problems caused by electrical conduction which might mask the dielectric relaxation

processes. The complex electric modulus (M*) is defined in terms of the complex

dielectric constant (ε*) and is represented as [18]:

M* = (ε*)-1 (6)

2"2'

"

2"2'

'*

)()()()("'

rr

r

rr

r iiMMMεε

εεε

ε+

++

=+= (7)

where 'M , "M and , 'rε , "

rε are the real and imaginary parts of the electric modulus and

dielectric constants, respectively. The real and imaginary parts of the modulus at different

temperatures are calculated using Eq. 7 for the LBO glasses and depicted in Figs. 8 (a &

b), respectively. One would notice from Fig. 8 (a) that at low frequencies, 'M approaches

zero at all the temperatures under study suggesting the suppression of the electrode

polarization. 'M reaches a maximum value corresponding to M∞ = ( ∞ε )-1 due to the

relaxation process. It is also observed that the value of M∞ decreases with the increase in

temperature. The imaginary part of the electric modulus (Fig. 8 (b)) is indicative of the

energy loss under electric field. The "M peak shifts to higher frequencies with increasing

temperature. This evidently suggests the involvement of temperature dependent

relaxation processes in the present glasses. The frequency region below the "M peak

indicates the range in which Li+ ions drift to long distances. In the frequency range which

9

is above the peak, the ions are spatially confined to potential wells and free to move

within the wells. The frequency range where the peak occurs is suggestive of the

transition from long-range to short-range mobility. The electric modulus (M*) could be

expressed as the Fourier transform of a relaxation function φ(t):

⎥⎦

⎤⎢⎣

⎡⎟⎠⎞

⎜⎝⎛−−−= ∫

∞

∞0

* )exp(1 dtdtdtMM φω (8)

where the function φ(t) is the time evolution of the electric field within the materials and

is usually taken as the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) function [19,20]:

⎥⎦

⎤⎢⎣

⎡⎟⎠⎞⎜

⎝⎛−=

β

τφm

tt exp)( (9)

where τm is the conductivity relaxation time and the exponent β (0 1] indicates the

deviation from Debye-type relaxation. The value of β could be determined by fitting the

experimental data in the above equations. But it is desirable to reduce the number of

adjustable parameters while fitting the experimental data. Keeping this point in view, the

electric modulus behavior of the present glass system is rationalized by invoking

modified KWW function suggested by Bergman. The imaginary part of the electric

modulus ( "M ) is defined as [21]:

( ) ( )[ ]βωωωωββ

ββ .1

)1("

"

MaxMax

MaxMM

++

+−= (10)

where "MaxM is the peak value of the "M and ωMax is the corresponding frequency. The

above equation (Eq. 10) could effectively be described for β ≥ 0.4. Theoretical fit of Eq.

10 to the experimental data is shown in Fig. 8 (b) as the solid lines. It is seen that the

experimental data are well fitted to this model except in the high frequency regime. From

10

the fitting of "M versus frequency plots, the value of β was determined and found to be

temperature dependent. The plot of β versus temperature is depicted in Fig. 9. β

increases gradually with the increase in temperature indicating that as the temperature

increases the glass network loosens and the interactions between Li+ ions and

surrounding matrix decreases.

The relaxation frequency associated with this process was determined from the

plot of "M versus frequency. The activation energy involved in the relaxation process of

ions could be obtained from the temperature dependent frequency associated with the

peak of "M as:

⎟⎠⎞

⎜⎝⎛−=

kTEff R

om exp (11)

where ER is the activation energy associated with the relaxation process, fo is the pre-

exponential factor, k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the absolute temperature. Fig. 10

shows a plot between ln (fm) and 1000/T along with the theoretical fit (solid line) to the

above equation (Eq. 11). The value that is obtained for ER is 0.80 ± 0.02eV, which is

ascribed to the motion of Li+ ions and is consistent with the one reported in the literature

[17].

In order to elucidate the electrical transport mechanism in LBO glasses, DC

conductivity at different temperatures (σDC(T)), was calculated from the electric modulus

data. The DC conductivity could be obtained according to the expression [22]:

( )

( ) ⎥⎥⎥

⎦

⎤

⎢⎢⎢

⎣

⎡

⎟⎠⎞⎜

⎝⎛Γ

=∞

T

TTTM

Tm

oDC

β

βτ

εσ

1)(*)()( (12)

11

where oε is the free space dielectric constant, M∞ (T) is the reciprocal of high frequency

dielectric constant and τm (T) (=1/2πfm) is the temperature dependent relaxation time. Fig.

11 shows the DC conductivity data obtained from the above expression (Eq. 12) at

various temperatures. The activation energy for the DC conductivity was calculated from

the plot of ln (σDC) versus 1000/T for LBO glasses, which is shown in Fig. 11. The plot is

found to be linear and fitted using the following Arrhenius equation,

⎟⎠⎞⎜

⎝⎛−= kT

EBT DCDC exp)(σ (13)

where B is the pre-exponential factor, EDC is the activation energy for the DC conduction.

The activation energy calculated from the slope of the fitted line is found to be 0.79 ±

0.03eV. This value of activation energy is higher than that of the value associated with dc

conduction in Li2O-2B2O3 glasses [23]. This is due to fact that in the alkali borate

systems, the local structure of boron could be tailored by varying the alkali oxide content.

At higher alkali content, more number of non-bridging oxygens (NBOs) are formed

which yield a open structure of the borate network [24]. Li2O-2B2O3 glasses have higher

molar content of Li2O than that of the Li2O-3B2O3 glasses which consequences the

change in the coordination of boron associated with the formation of NBOs. The

environment around Li+ is changed due to variation in the NBOs. Such structural changes

can have important influence on the mobility of Li+ ions. The Li+ mobility increases in

the presence of NBOs. This suggests that the glasses in the composition of Li2O-2B2O3

would have higher conductivity than that of the Li2O-3B2O3 glasses.

AC conductivity at different frequencies and temperatures, was determined by using the

dielectric data using the following formula:

12

'roAC Dεωεσ = (14)

where ACσ is the AC conductivity at a frequency ω (=2πf). The frequency dependence of

the AC conductivity at different temperatures is shown in Fig. 12. At low frequency, the

conductivity shows a flat response which corresponds to the dc part of the conductivity.

At higher frequencies, the conductivity shows a dispersion. It is clear from the figure that

the flat region increases with the increase in temperature. The phenomenon of the

conductivity dispersion in solids is generally analyzed using Jonscher’s law

nDCAC Aωσσ += (15)

where DCσ is the dc conductivity, A is the temperature dependent constant and n is the

power law exponent which generally varies between 0 and 1. The exponent n represents

the degree of interaction between the mobile ions. The present glasses are found to obey

the above mentioned universal power law at all the temperatures and frequencies under

study. The theoretically fitted lines of Eq. 15 to the experimental data are shown in Fig.

12 (solid lines). The conductivity obtained for the present glasses at 500 Hz and 373 K is

1.5 X 10-7 Ω-1.m-1 which is in the same order of magnitude for LiB3O5 single crystals

along a and b-axes (9.5 X 10-8 Ω-1.m-1) [6]. However, slightly higher value of

conductivity associated with Li2O-3B2O3 glass is attributed to the easy migration of Li+

ions through the diborate and tetraborate structural units.

The variation of exponent n as a function of temperature is depicted in Fig. 9. It is

known that the conductivity mechanism in any material could be understood from the

temperature dependent behavior of n. To ascertain the electrical conduction mechanism

in the materials, various models have been proposed [25]. These models include quantum

mechanical tunneling model (QMT), the overlapping large-polaron tunneling model

13

(OLPT) and the correlated barrier hopping model (CBH). According to the QMT model,

the value of exponent n is found to be 0.8 and increases slightly with increase in the

temperature whereas the OLPT model predicts the frequency and temperature

dependence of n. In the CBH model, the temperature dependent behavior of n is

proposed. This model states that the charge transport between localized states due to

hopping over the potential barriers and predicts a decrease in the value of n with the

increase in temperature, which is consistent with the behavior of n for the glasses

understudy (Fig. 9). This suggests that the conductivity behavior of LBO glasses can be

explained using correlated barrier hopping model.

The present glasses do not seem to follow the Ngai’s relation (β =1-n) [26] as the

plots of imaginary part of electric modulus are not fitted exactly in the high frequency

regime which influences the value of β [Fig. 8 (b)]. Since the values for β and n are

estimated in different frequency regions (as they could not be fitted well in the same

frequency region), it is inconsistent with the Ngai’s relation. Although the qualitative

changes in the values of β and n are in conformity with the fact that both parameters

represent the interaction between the ions [27].

The temperature dependence of the AC conductivity at different frequencies is

shown in Fig. 13. At high temperatures and low frequencies the curves tend to merge

with each other with a constant slope. This frequency independent behavior is attributed

to the contribution from the DC conduction. The solid line that is shown in Fig. 13 is the

linear fit. The slope of which gives the activation energy which is about 0.82 ± 0.03eV

attributed to the Li+ ion transport. It is worth noting that the activation energies for

14

relaxation process and DC conduction are in close agreement. It suggests that similar

energy barriers are involved in both the relaxation and conduction processes.

4. Conclusions:

The frequency and temperature dependence of dielectric properties of Li2O-3B2O3

glasses were investigated in the frequency range of 100 Hz - 10 MHz. The dielectric

relaxation peak was observed in the frequency dependent dielectric loss plots whose

magnitude had electrode materials dependence. The dielectric relaxation behavior of

these glasses was rationalized using Cole-Cole equation and the electrical transport

properties were investigated and found to be obeying Jonscher’s universal law. The

activation energy associated with the dielectric relaxation determined from the dielectric

and electric modulus spectra was found to be 0.78 ± 0.04 eV, close to that the activation

energy for DC conductivity (0.80 ± 0.02 eV).

15

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16

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Table I: Fitted parameters from the Cole-Cole equation for Li2O-3B2O3 glasses.

T (K)

sε ∞ε τ (µs)

α 2σ ( m..Ω )-1

s

423 19 8.5 80 0.428 7.8 E-10 0.39 448 19.8 8.8 20 0.401 2.31E-9 0.53 473 20.7 9 5.6 0.34 2.17E-7 0.98 498 21.5 9.4 2.63 0.336 5.85E-7 0.99 523 22 9.85 1.46 0.30 5.25E-6 0.99

18

Figure captions:

Fig. 1: DSC trace for as-quenched Li2O-3B2O3 glass plates.

Fig. 2: X-ray powder diffraction patterns for the (a) as-quenched, (b) 823 K/4 h,

(c) 873 K/6 h and (d) 933 K/10 h heat-treated Li2O-3B2O3 glasses.

Fig. 3: Frequency dependent dielectric constant plots at various temperatures and solid

lines are the fitted curves using Eq. 3 in the text.

Fig. 4: ln (τ) versus 1000/T plot for Li2O-3B2O3 glasses.

Fig. 5: Dielectric loss versus frequency plots at various temperatures.

Fig. 6: Frequency dependent behavior of (a) Dielectric constant and (b) dielectric loss

using various electrode materials at 523 K.

Fig. 7: Variation in dielectric constant with frequency for the samples of two different

thicknesses (1 mm and 3 mm).

Fig. 8: (a) Real and (b) imaginary parts of the electric modulus as a function of

frequency at various temperatures. The solid lines are the theoretical fits.

Fig. 9: n & β versus T for Li2O-3B2O3 glasses.

Fig. 10: Arrhenius plot for electrical relaxation.

Fig. 11: Arrhenius plot for DC conductivity.

Fig. 12: Variation of AC conductivity as a function of frequency at different temperatures

and solid lines are the fitted curves.

Fig. 13: Temperature dependence of AC conductivity at different frequencies and solid

line is the linear fit.